UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Duke men’s fencing team went 2-3 and the women went 1-3 at the season-opening Penn State Duals Sunday afternoon.

The Duke men took down Haverford (23-4) and Drew (26-1) while falling to Columbia (16-11), Penn State (18-9) and Penn (18-9). The women’s win came against Haverford (21-6) with losses to Columbia (19-8), Penn State (17-10) and Penn (20-7).

“We struggled at times against three very strong schools, but we're encouraged by the veteran leadership of Dylan Nollner, Eddie Chen, and Isabella Barna,” head coach Alex Beguinet said. “In addition, freshmen Joseph Lam, Julia lee and Rita Somogyi posted strong results for their first collegiate meet. We have some work to do over the next two weeks, but the group who shows up in Philadelphia should be more cohesive and able to challenge any team on our schedule.”

Chen led the men’s epee squad with a 9-6 record, while Nollner posted an 8-4 record to help the epees go 3-2 on the day. Alessio Santoro and Jake Wiener also posted winning marks for the epees, going 7-5 and 4-2, respectively.

In women’s epee, Barna and Somogyi turned in matching 7-5 records as their squad went 2-2 on the day. The women’s sabers, led by Kodia Baye-Cigna’s 6-4 mark and freshman Angelica Hubbard’s five wins, matched the epees with a 2-2 record.

Freshman women’s foil Julia Lee won seven of 12 bouts in her season debut as the foil squad went 1-3.

Duke will send a select few fencers to the North American Cup on Jan. 18-21 in Virginia Beach, Va., and then return to team competition at the Philadelphia Invitational on Jan. 25-26.